Undeterred by political transition taking place in India, foreign leaders come in search of markets

Undeterred by political transition taking place in India, foreign leaders come in search of markets and investment opportunities

Undeterred by the political transition taking place in India, a galaxy of foreign leaders is coming to the country in search of markets and investment opportunities.

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Manoj Joshi

December 29, 1997

ISSUE DATE: December 29, 1997

UPDATED: May 22, 2013 11:19 IST

The trip is on: But I.K. Gujral may not be the one to play host to Bill Clinton

Will he, won't he? That was the question tantalising the Indian Government, till he answered it himself. Mid-week, on December 16, President Bill Clinton told journalists in Washington that he would make his visit to India though, for the present, had not set a date so as to be "sensitive, among other things, to the Indian election schedule".

To underscore this, at that very moment, an advance White House team was already in Delhi working out the details of the visit. Clinton's own remarks as well as those of Frank Pallone, Democratic Congressman from New Jersey and convener of the India caucus in the House of Representatives, suggest that the first US presidential visit in two decades will take place shortly after a new government is established in Delhi.

Even as Clinton's proposed visit hogs the attention, South Block is preparing for a virtual torrent of high-level visits from other countries. Though the country has no elected government, and India's own agenda is on hold, most foreign visitors don't seem inclined to wait.

A stream of presidents and prime ministers will pass through Delhi in January to be feted by caretaker Prime Minister I.K. Gujral. French President Jacques Chirac is coming, so are presidents Aleksander Kwasniewski of Poland and Constantinos Stephanopoulas of Greece and, health permitting, Boris Yeltsin of Russia.

Jacques chirac: Will try to repair Indo-French ties, strained over the past decade

The more important visits will be that of the big brothers - the Russian and American presidents. The Yeltsin Government is acutely alive to the need to maintain Indo-Russian ties at a high level.

First Deputy Prime Minister Anatoli Chubais' mid-December visit and the meeting of the Indo-Russian joint commission are pointers to the seriousness with which the erstwhile superpower is approaching what was once one of its most important foreign relationships. This has been underscored by the return of India as a major arms purchaser from the Russians.

The most important visit from India's point of view, though, will be that of Clinton. The build-up has been intense, beginning with the visit of First Lady Hillary Clinton last year (and again for Mother Teresa's funeral).

Gujral agreed to a meeting with the American President in October during his visit to New York to attend the United Nations General Assembly meeting. Since then, Delhi has been visited by US Under Secretary of State Tom Pickering and, her other preoccupations notwithstanding, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.

Boris yeltsin: His visit would signal the importance Russia still gives India

American investment has been pouring into India. But Wall Street sets the agenda in this area, not the White House. The administration and Congress can be "spoilers" by passing rules and regulations that can hurt India.

But those days seem to have gone. Both the US Congress, where the India caucus now comprises more than a quarter of its total membership, and the administration are determined to improve ties with India. As Clinton put it last week, his country "had an enormous national interest" in good relations with South Asia.

Yet, a major stumbling block remains - India's refusal to ink the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT). The Clinton administration views the CTBT as its major arms control achievement and the centrepiece of its global anti-proliferation strategy.

If India does not sign the treaty, it cannot, as per its terms and conditions, enter into force in 1999. As part of the new rapprochement, the US has quietened down on Kashmir and resumed an exploratory "strategic dialogue" with India, but its keenness to have the CTBT enter into force is acute.

Notwithstanding the changed gears signalling fresh general elections, the flow of high-level foreign visitors passing through has not abated after Gujral's coalition government fell. US Commerce Secretary William Daley spent two weeks in India in December.

Chubais was here on December 17-18. Around the same time, Wei Jianxing, member of the Chinese Communist Party Politburo's powerful Standing Committee, was in India. While India's current focus is inward, that of most of the European leaders can be summed up in two words: trade and investment.

Declares a spokesman of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry: "This is indeed an acceptance that India Inc is working, even if it is in the process of electing its government."

Chirac's visit is meant to improve his country's troubled ties with India. It is no secret that the French, with whom India enjoyed excellent relations in the early 1980s, feel that they have been left behind in terms of trade relations with India by their neighbour Germany.

"The estrangement has many reasons, most notably the French pique over losing some major contracts," says an observer. This alienation was compounded when the French signed some major arms
contracts with the Pakistanis, including those for the sophisticated
Agosta-class submarines and the SM-39 Exocet missile for which India has no equivalent even today.

Had the French gone ahead with the proposed sale of the Mirage 2000-5 strike fighters last year (aborted because Pakistan lacked funds), Indo-French problems would have been beyond ordinary repair.

The two countries are now determined to set their relations on an even keel and so Chirac will be the chief guest at the Republic Day parade next month.

The French President will be here not a moment too soon. Just before he arrives, Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi will be coming, riding on the crest of burgeoning trade between India and Italy (turnover: $2.3 billion last year, in excess of that with the French).

Already, the surging Italian economy, and its finally stabilising politics under Prodi, is the talk of Europe. "Not many Indians know that Italy is a member of the Group of Seven leading nations of the world," says a diplomat, "with one of the highest growth rates among the slow-moving European economies."

There are two other visits, low-key but seen in South Block as key building blocks to India's place in the new world order. President Kwasniewski is striving to re-establish relations in the new circumstances of his country's difficult transition from a command to a capitalist economy.

On the other hand, Indian officials' diplomatic assessment of the Greek President's visit is that it seeks to "impart content" to a "traditionally warm and friendly" relationship. Good relations with European Union (EU) countries is vital for India since it helps balance its ties with the US and Russia.

Trade with the EU, at $20 billion, is double that with the US. Europeans like to focus on economic issues and de-emphasise knotty political subjects. Additionally, their technology, especially in the areas of aerospace and defence, comes with fewer strings attached than what is available from the Americans.

Gujral and his caretaker team have a busy period ahead of them. Whether they can give the requisite amount of time and, more important, attention, to their foreign visitors is the moot issue. It affects not only the standing of the erstwhile ruling party, but also the interests of the country.

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